DACA - Important to Contact Your Congressional Representatives

~~President Trump has ordered an end to the Obama-era executive action that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, calling the program an “amnesty-first approach” and urging Congress to replace it with legislation before it begins phasing out on March 5, 2018.
In my first life after college, long before I started Tankoos Reporting Company, I was a Spanish teacher. Majoring in Spanish at Queens College of the City of New York, I was required to take many classes related to the history or Spain and Latin America, as well as Spanish literature, in addition to, of course, learning how to speak the language.

One fact that jumps out at everyone who has ever studied the history of Spain is that, the country lost its economic status in the world and slid downhill rather quickly, after 1492, the year Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand decided to expel the Jews. The Inquisition took care of all of those who chose not to leave. The expulsion of the Jews had been the pet project of Father Tomas de Torquemada, the head of the Spanish Inquisition.

The Expulsion of the Jews was a disaster for Spain, psychologically, intellectually and economically. It boosted the legitimacy of the Spanish Inquisition, whose stifling effect would be felt by the society until the 19th century. It also stripped 2% of Spain’s most urbane, educated and affluent inhabitants. At a time when Europe’s economy was shifting from agrarian to industrial, Spain could not afford this loss. The effect was compounded when the Spanish Inquisition managed to have 300,000 Muslims expelled a century later. Such a massive exodus would be an enormous loss for any country at the time – but especially for Spain, which was only a third the size of France.

It seems to me that if our President or the Conservatives in our government who support the cancellation of DACA studied and understood history or economics, they would realize that the immigrants who fall under DACA are an important part of the middle class here in the United States, and that sending them back to countries they barely remember will cause more than a small ripple in our economy. If our congressional representatives choose to ignore the humanitarian effects of what they are doing, they certainly should not choose to ignore the economic problems that will follow.

Write to your congressional representatives and try to impress upon them the importance of passing legislation that will grant undocumented immigrants who are losing the protection of DACA a path to citizenship.

The following article is from CNN online:

(CNN)The Trump administration on Tuesday formally announced the end of DACA -- a program that had protected nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security will stop processing any new applications for the program as of Tuesday and rescinded the Obama administration policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
"I am here today to announce that the program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday at the Justice Department.

In the five years since DACA was enacted, the nearly 800,000 individuals who have received the protections have started families, pursued careers and studied in schools and universities across the United States. The business community and education community at large has joined Democrats and many moderate Republicans in supporting the program, citing the contributions to society from the population and the sympathetic fact that many Dreamers have never known another home than the US.

In a statement after his agencies and attorney general announced the decision, President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for creating the program through executive authority and urged Congress to come up with a solution.
"It is now time for Congress to act!" he said.

Trump said that winding down the program would be more considerate than letting the courts end it, but emphasized he stands by his "America First" agenda.

"As I've said before, we will resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion -- but through the lawful Democratic process -- while at the same time ensuring that any immigration reform we adopt provides enduring benefits for the American citizens we were elected to serve," Trump said. "We must also have heart and compassion for unemployed, struggling and forgotten Americans."
The administration also announced a plan to continue renewing permits for anyone whose status expires in the next six months, giving Congress time to act before any currently protected individuals lose their ability to work, study and live without fear in the US.

The Trump administration pitched the move as the "least disruptive" option available after facing a threat from 10 conservative state attorneys general to challenge the program in court, according to senior administration officials briefing reporters on the move during a conference call conducted on condition of anonymity.

CNN Money: Ending DACA hits U.S. economy where it hurts
Sessions had determined that the program would not be likely to withstand that court challenge, he said.

"The Department of Justice cannot defend this overreach," Sessions said. "There is nothing compassionate about the failure to enforce immigration laws. Enforcing the law saves lives, protects communities and taxpayers, and prevents human suffering. Failure to enforce the laws in the past has put our nation at risk of crime, violence and even terrorism. The compassionate thing is to end the lawlessness, (and) enforce our laws."

Congress faces deadline
The move sets a clock for Congress to act to preserve the program's protections before the DACA recipients begin losing their status March 5, 2018.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated his aspiration that Congress will reach a solution in time.

"It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the president's leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country," Ryan said.
No one's DACA status will be revoked before it expires, administration officials said, and any applications already received by Tuesday will be processed.

Anyone who's status expires by March 5 has one month to apply for a new two-year permit, and those applications will be processed.

If Congress were not to act, and DACA begins to expire, nearly 300,000 people could begin to lose their status in 2018, and more than 320,000 would lose their status from January to August 2019. More than 200,000 recipients have their DACA expiring in the window that DHS will allow renewal.
Speaking with reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity, DHS did not rule out that anyone with expired DACA would then be subject to deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they will continue to prioritize for enforcement people with criminal records, people who re-enter the US illegally and

The officials placed the onus on Congress to make any changes to the system
those with final orders of removal.

But officials said there will be no formal guidance that former DACA recipients are not eligible for deportation, and ICE officers in the field who encounter them will be making a case-by-case judgment as to whether to arrest that individual and process them for deportation.
The administration insisted its approach was designed to offer some security to DACA recipients, emphasizing that if it had allowed the courts to decide the issue, then would have been risking an immediate and abrupt end to DACA at the hands of a judge.

But it also was made clear that once DACA begins to expire, if Congress doesn't act, then people formerly protected "would be like any other person who's in the country illegally," according to a senior DHS official.

All of the information provided to the government by DACA applicants will remain in the DHS system. US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the program, will give that information to ICE if requested if "there's a significant law enforcement or national security interest," an official said.

While they won't be specifically targeted, DHS said, they could be arrested and deported if they are encountered by ICE officers. And their information, which they provided extensively for their DACA applications, will continue to reside in DHS systems and could be accessed if officers feel it's necessary in the course of an investigation.

DHS said it had on plans to issue formal guidelines on how former DACA recipients -- or their information -- will be treated beyond the current operating procedures of DHS.

"To be clear, what ICE is doing now is what Congress intended, we're actually enforcing the law the way it is written," said a senior ICE official. "(This is t)he first President who's asked us to enforce the law the way it is written and not asked us to have some executive interpretation of the law."

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